It is tough for rappers to reinvent themselves as they get older, writing about original topics and continuing to engage their audience. You could count the vets from the early-mid 90s still releasing albums with the same anticipation and general interest as the new cats on one hand. Jay joins the likes of Snoop, maybe Nas, some of the Wu (probably stretching it already) and rappers like Eminem who began closer to the new millennium. There aren't many, with rap as a whole so far making for a short life of high fame. With this album, for a good half of it at least, Jay does not do this, making it void of passion/presence on the mic, or originality. And while I'm all for this small trend we've seen from the likes of Kanye and Jay of releasing albums out of nowhere, I'm strongly against albums being rushed, which aspects seem to have been for the recently released Yeezus, and sound like they were for this, with The-Dream mentioning that “Jay-Z finished most of this in two weeks.”
Best moments on MCHG: 'Jay Z Blue', as the lyrics are meaningful with Jay rapping about fatherhood. It actually feels like Jay put some thought into this song. 'Somewhere in America', largely because of the pianos in the production is a standout. It could've been a lot better though with better lyrics and rapping. It's a similar case with the following 'Crown'. Disregarding Jay using basketball players as similes for the millionth time over his career, 'Nickles and Dimes' is also more introspective and deeper than most of what comes before. I don't mind 'Part II' either. B helps elevate it who is on the song for a lot of it and it is a grower. The opener 'Holy Grail' has its moments as well, but it feels more than one minute too long. JT being on a song that's too long? There's a first time for everything I guess...
Worst moments on MCHG: 'La Familiar', where Jay takes subliminal shots at Lil Wayne, years later after Wayne dissed him on 'I'm Good'. When you take this long to respond to a diss it's a failure and it mustn't have dug that deep. Lyrically, it also just feels like it was written in three minutes. Also on the diss, with Wayne being a laughing stock for years, Jay could go so much harder. 'Holy Grail' - Jay has another dig at Hammer losing his cash. Leave him alone Jay. 'Picasso Baby' - I like the beat change up that takes it back to the feel of some earlier Jay beats, but the lyrics are boring as they are on the following 'Tom Ford'. Kanye does this bragging better, because he puts more emotion into his vocals, is more outlandish and just comes across as more of a character - (insert croissant line here). Out of all of the tracks Jay could've asked Nas to impart some of his wisdom on, it's BBC, with Nasir rapping about clothing 'n' shit. Finally, does anyone else find Frank Ocean a bit whiny at times? Maybe it's just me...
To compare the pretentiously ill-fitting titled Magna Carter_Holly Grail to Jay's last solo album, there was definitely more I got out of the early ventures of BP3 than this. There are no really bad songs here that BP3 has, which are largely due to some choruses being horrendous on BP3 in the last half of the album, but there also aren't the 'DOA's, 'Empire State of Minds' or 'On to the Next Ones' that are high moments on BP3 in my opinion. I've seen the production being praised, and after hearing the commercial/trailer for the album I was a bit hype for this album, as most sounded good, but to be kind, I'm not hearing much that blows me away.
Not a great phone, I mean CD, full of material.
Best Tracks: Somewhere in America, Crown, Part II, Jay Z Blue, Nickles and Dimes
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